STORRS, Conn. — Expectations are high for the 2024-2025 UConn men’s and women’s basketball teams entering their respective seasons.
On Monday, it was announced that the UConn men are ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press’ preseason poll. The preseason AP poll for women’s college basketball was released on Tuesday, with the Huskies ranked No. 2.
After winning back-to-back national championships, UConn men’s head coach Dan Hurley has made the case his team deserves to be ranked first overall, but the Huskies only received 11 first place votes. They’ll surely use this as motivation entering the season.
Four out of the five starters from UConn’s 2024 national championship team entered the NBA Draft, including lottery picks Steph Castle and Donovan Clingan as well as second-round selections Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer. Those four players accounted for well over half of the team’s scoring last season.
Despite losing so many stars, UConn landed top 10 recruit Liam McNeeley, a forward from Texas, and transfer guard Aiden Mahaney, a two-time First Team All-WCC selection at St. Mary’s in California. The Huskies sophomore class also entered last season as one of the best incoming recruiting classes in college basketball. Despite the loss of Castle, voters surely had this in mind when ranking UConn back in the top five.
The Huskies were unranked in the AP poll entering the 2022-2023 season and were ranked No. 6 entering the 2023-2024 campaign. UConn exceeded expectations both times en route to winning multiple national championships.
The last time UConn men’s basketball was ranked in the top five of the AP’s preseason poll was at the start of the 2011-2012 season, when they entered play at No. 4. The team’s current No. 3 AP ranking is the program’s highest in the AP preseason poll since the 2008-2009 team started No. 2. The last time the men’s program entered the season ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll was 2003-2004.
The UConn women have a proud history of entering the AP preseason poll ranked No. 1, but this year they’ll have to settle for second. The No. 2 Huskies received two first-place votes, finishing behind No. 1 South Carolina, the defending national champion, who has begun four of the past five seasons ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll.
UConn will get their shot at South Carolina on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, when the two teams face off in Columbia, S.C.
Under Hall of Fame head coach Geno Auriemma, the Huskies have started the season in the AP’s top 10 for 30 consecutive years. Despite tremendous injury problems that led the team to lean on a seven-player rotation in March Madness, UConn still advanced to the Final Four last season. The team was arguably an offensive foul away from beating Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes.
This year, the Huskies appear to be much healthier than they were in March and April. Superstar guard Paige Bueckers, the former Naismith National Player of the Year and multi-time First-Team All-American, is ready to lead a team that features dynamic shooting guard Azzi Fudd and freshman forward Sarah Strong, the nation’s top-ranked recruit and the 2024 Naismith High School Player of the Year.
The Huskies also expect to get major contributions from a trio of sophomores, including forward Ice Brady, guard KK Arnold and guard Ashlynn Shade. Fifth-year transfer guard Kaitlyn Chen from Princeton is a new addition who will look to add to her stellar college career in a UConn uniform.
Other potential playmakers include fifth-year senior forward Aubrey Griffin, sophomore forward Ayanna Patterson, redshirt freshman center Jana El Alfy and freshman guards Morgan Cheli and Allie Ziebell.
Both the UConn men's and women's teams will begin the season with deep rosters, and it will be exciting for fans to watch the battles for playing time.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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